More than 20 years ago, with The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those concerns went largely unheeded; now, he insists, we need to acknowledge that we've waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but is already under way. We've created a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different—McKibben dubs it Eaarth—and in this world it costs plenty to defend the habitable spaces (think of the money that went to repair New Orleans, or the trillions of dollars it will take to reform our energy systems). Our hope, McKibben argues, depends on scaling back—on building the kind of societies and economies that can hunker down, concentrate on essentials, and create the types of communities (online and in our neighborhoods) that will allow us to weather trouble on an unprecedented scale.

"McKibben postulates that because today's planet is so much hotter, stormier, and more chaotic with droughts, vanishing ice, dying forests, encroaching deserts, acid oceans, increased wildfires, and diminishing food crops, it merits a new name.... Although his meticulous chronicling of the current 'cascading effects' of climate change is truly alarming, it isn't utterly devastating. That's because McKibben, reasonable and compassionate, reports with equal thoroughness on the innovations of proactive individuals and groups and explicates the benefits of ending our dependence on fossil fuels, industrial agriculture, and the unbalanced, unjust global economy."—Booklist (starred review)